Ender wrote:The single hardest fight in the game is fighting your way through 12 Orz Nemesis ships at Delta Vulpeculae 2-C, for the Taalo Shield.

Not really, no. The hardest fight in the game is to penetrate the Ur-Quan's blockade around the Sa-Matra without using the Talking Pet. That'd actually make a great achievement - "Brute Force", which entitles reaching the Sa-Matra without the Talking Pet to nudge away the mega-fleet surrounding it. I mean, it'd be hard as hell, but I'd wager the fleet isn't actually infinite.

EDITED: I checked the Ultronomicon, and Quasispatial is correct. There are also 14 Dreadnaughts or Destroyers in the Battle Groups guarding the Sa-Matra in the giant ring formation. I guess my memory is busted. I haven't tried to penetrate the Sa-Matra's blockade in many years, so I guess I'd forgotten that they were huge groups there, or maybe it was different on the DOS version.

That's not a single fight. There are multiple battle groups there, if you were to fight them all.

I am talking about fighting and winning vs. a single Battle Group when I say "single hardest fight."

Correction from my previous post. There are actually 14 Nemeses at Delta Vulpeculae 2-c. At 23 ship-points each, that is an over 300 point armada (322).

The group blockading the Sa-Matra itself is only 6 ships total, or 180 points. I forget how many ships are in the battle groups in the giant ring of ships that are sent away with the Talking Pet.

Ender wrote:
Anyway, winning the battle at Delta Vulpeculae is probably very difficult to achieve until the late game in a normal game, with a souped-up flagship or Chmmr Avatars. (It is probably impossible to achieve on a "No-Starbase" run of the game, since your ships will simply lack the firepower - you'll be limited to Druuge Maulers, Pkunk Furies, the Earthling Cruiser, Fwiffo's Eluder, ZFP Stingers, and maybe also the Supox and Utwig ships if you've let the Kohr-Ah begin their march.)

I have to disgaree with this. I find that the computer on Awesome level makes a fatal mistake with the Orz Nemesis and you can pretty much blast your way into Delta Vulpeculae with a few Earthling Cruisers. As long as you don't warp in too close, let the Orz be dumb enough to launch 8 marines, then make sure you face the right direction, launch two missiles, and hey presto, fish pizza. If the Orz is close in and launches marines at close range, DO NOT FIRE - wait for them to get close and hammer away with your defence laser (three shots takes out a marine and it has a quick firing time).

*****

One possible achievement could be to defeat five different types of ship with a lower value ship (i.e. defeat 5 different types of enemy with a Earthling Cruiser in main game)

Or achievement name Kobayashi Maru - Defeat ships totalling 5 times the current ship's cost in Melee.

The Ultron tells me I should wear my Mask of Toys for Bob Appreciation when playing Star Control 2.

Thread necromancy: I thought this thread was over at the UQM boards, but apparently my memory is as bad as I always make it... ;)

Achievement:
You've used three different methods to get rid of the guards at one planet.

spoiler: only the Clear Spindle protected by the Thraddash has more than two methods:
-Death March
-send the Thraddash away, against the enemy of their masters
-exterminate the Thraddash by sending the Ilwrath their way
-get their trust to be allowed to explore the planet.

krulle wrote:Thread necromancy: I thought this thread was over at the UQM boards, but apparently my memory is as bad as I always make it...

Achievement:
You've used three different methods to get rid of the guards at one planet.

spoiler: only the Clear Spindle protected by the Thraddash has more than two methods:
-Death March
-send the Thraddash away, against the enemy of their masters
-exterminate the Thraddash by sending the Ilwrath their way
-get their trust to be allowed to explore the planet.

krulle wrote:Thread necromancy: I thought this thread was over at the UQM boards, but apparently my memory is as bad as I always make it... ;)

Achievement:
You've used three different methods to get rid of the guards at one planet.

spoiler: only the Clear Spindle protected by the Thraddash has more than two methods:
-Death March
-send the Thraddash away, against the enemy of their masters
-exterminate the Thraddash by sending the Ilwrath their way
-get their trust to be allowed to explore the planet.

The Orz at the Taalo shield world have 3 as well:
- Befriend and explore the planet
- Fight and defeat the guards
- Allow the Death March to eliminate them

The Utwig bomb is another weird case:
- The usual route, fix the Ultron and fight the Druuge for it
- Fix the Ultron, allow the Druuge to be Death Marched and just retrieve it
- Allow the Utwig to be Death Marched and just take it

All of these scenarios, of course, would require multiple playthroughs, or at least multiple attempts at solving a single puzzle in one playthrough. Getting this achievement would realistically require you to do some significant setup (or save scumming) for the sole purpose of making it happen. I can't say I am a fan of achievements that require you to not only think outside the box, but also forego sensible game goals, in order to get them. Not that this would be the first one I had ever seen.

The Orz at the Taalo shield world have 3 as well:
- Befriend and explore the planet
- Fight and defeat the guards
- Allow the Death March to eliminate them

The Utwig bomb is another weird case:
- The usual route, fix the Ultron and fight the Druuge for it
- Fix the Ultron, allow the Druuge to be Death Marched and just retrieve it
- Allow the Utwig to be Death Marched and just take it

All of these scenarios, of course, would require multiple playthroughs, or at least multiple attempts at solving a single puzzle in one playthrough. Getting this achievement would realistically require you to do some significant setup (or save scumming) for the sole purpose of making it happen. I can't say I am a fan of achievements that require you to not only think outside the box, but also forego sensible game goals, in order to get them. Not that this would be the first one I had ever seen.

Eh. Just change the 'chieve description to four instead of three and you're all golden.

"Sentient life. We are the Ur-Quan. Independence is intolerable. Blah, blah, blah." - the Spathi High Council, Star Control II.